I have a cousin who is a licensed contractor as an electrician. He never intended to be one. It’s just that his college screwed up his registration papers for his degree in business mgmt and didn’t want to waste time so he went to technical college. Fast forward, he pretty much owns the contracts for condos and business companies in downtown.
His only problem is dealing with corrupt, scum city inspectors every time they inspect a business and dwelling whose electrical stuff he was sent to fix.
My High School had an excellent shop, and a student run cannery. Unfortunately, it didn’t teach calculus which put me behind everyone at the Air Force Academy in ‘69. But I could weld, sweat a joint, and basically build anything.
Four or five years ago, when these young people started college, it was an intelligent investment. Many astute people did not anticipate that the world would change utterly in the fall of 2008 and that a college education would no longer be a ticket to a good job.
Even today, it’s hard to predict what might happen. I took career training for something that was supposed to get me a good job. I investigated carefully before embarking on the training. Yes indeed, employers I talked to were desperate, and were waving money at me—just show up with a certification in your paw, they said, and we’ll give you a job. A federal government ruling changed that, and I’m now out the training money and the employers aren’t hiring for those jobs anymore.
So it’s a crapshoot, and I don’t think it’s fair to criticize today’s young people for not figuring out that the economy was going to collapse and not come back.
There is always the commie alternative. Go to work for the federal government and get your loans forgiven.
I know a guy who wanted to be a fireman as a youngster. He took a lot of razzing from classmates who were going on to college to get degrees, many in various liberal specialties (Womyns Studies, Black Studies, Environmental Analysis....).
So after high school he found some kind of trade school, attended and became an entry level fireman.
Now he has moved up in the ranks, makes well into the six figures, and more importantly, is doing what he wanted with his life.
Many of his former classmates are still wandering from one fast food job to another complaining that no one is hiring in their specialty. And they also have big college loans to pay off if they ever do land a decent job. He loves telling his story and gets a good chuckle every time he does.